Chapter Three Individual Views of Delinquency: Choice and Trait

Chapter Three Individual Views of Delinquency: Choice and Trait
Juvenile Delinquency Chapter Three Individual Views of Delinquency: Choice and Trait

Chapter Objectives Be familiar with and distinguish between the two branches of individual-level theories of delinquency: Know the principles of choice theory Discuss the routine activities theory of delinquency Know the principles of: general deterrence theory specific deterrence theory List the reasons why incarceration of delinquents may not reduce their crime rates

Chapter Objectives Discuss the concept of situational crime prevention
Trace the history and development of trait theory Be familiar with the branches and substance of biological trait theory Know the various psychological theories of delinquency

Case Profile – Eric Only child, product of a broken home with a history of domestic violence Diagnosed with ADHD at 8, and also suffered with reading, math, and Learning Disabilities At 15, defiant, demonstrating aggressive behavior at school and home, partially linked to substance abuse Mother engaged services and Eric revealed physical abuse of girlfriend Referred to a special program, and stopped his entire range of abusive behaviors Positive future outlook

Case Profile – Eric Eric’s involvement in antisocial behavior may reflect personal, individual level problems The case profile raises the question as to whether Personal, Emotional and/or Physical Problems of the individual may be a root cause of delinquency, as opposed to social factors such as the environment

Choice Theory Individual views of delinquency
Views of Delinquency that focus on the individual can be divided into two categories: Choice Theory Trait Theory

Choice Theory Choice Theory
Choice Theory holds that youths are rational decision makers who will choose to engage in delinquent and criminal behavior after weighing the consequences and benefits of their actions Delinquent behavior is a rational choice made by a motivated offender who perceives that the chances of gain outweigh any possible punishment or loss Choice theory assumes that since human behavior is a matter of choice, people had free will to choose their behavior and that those who violated the law were motivated by greed, revenge, survival or hedonism

Choice Theory Choice Theory
More than 200 years ago, Utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham argued that people weigh the consequences of their actions before deciding on a course of behavior Utilitarian means purposeful and this where the idea of Choice Theory is derived Their writings formed the core of Classical Criminology, and is now referred to as Rational Choice Theory To prevent crime, the pain of punishment must outweigh the benefit of the illegal gain, as People seek pleasure and avoid pain

The Rational Delinquent
Choice Theory Choice Theory has many followers because it makes sense According to this view, delinquency is not merely a function of social ills such as lack of economic opportunity or family dysfunction It can be used to explain why juveniles from good families break the law and those from poor environments abide by the law It can also be used to explain why juveniles become involved in drug use when everyone knows the dangers and consequences Many Delinquents choose to commit crime because they find violating the law attractive for reasons of Physical Gratification, Peer Acceptance, and/or other Social Benefits

Choice Theory Choosing Delinquent Acts Delinquent Motivations
The concepts of delinquent and delinquency are considered separate A Delinquent is a youth who maintains the propensity to commit delinquent acts Delinquency is an event during which an adolescent chooses to violate the law Delinquent Motivations Economic need/opportunity Problem solving False expectations Opportunity

Choice Theory Routine Activities Theory
This theory by Cohen and Felson focuses attention upon the opportunity to commit delinquent acts: The volume of Predatory Crimes (violent crimes against persons and crimes in which an offender attempts to steal an object directly from its holder) in a particular area and particular time is influenced by the interaction of three variables: Absence of Capable Guardians Suitable Targets Presence of Motivated Offenders

Choice Theory Routine Activities Absence of Capable Guardians
Homeowners, neighbors, teachers, police and security guards With parents at work and children in school or daycare homes there are none Potential thieves look for these unguarded neighborhoods in order to plan their burglaries

Choice Theory Routine Activities Availability of Suitable Targets
The more wealth a home contains, the more likely it is to become a crime target Delinquents do not like to travel to commit crimes, and look for suitable targets close to their homes Familiarity with an area gives kids a ready knowledge of escape routes (awareness space)

Choice Theory Routine Activities Presence of Motivated Offenders
The delinquency rate is linked to the number of kids in the population who are highly motivated to commit crime

Choice Theory and Delinquency Prevention
If delinquency is a rational choice and a routine activity, then delinquency prevention is a matter of convincing potential delinquents that they will be punished for committing delinquent acts, punishing them so severely that they never again commit crimes or making it so difficult to commit crimes that the potential gain is not worth the risk This presents the concepts of strategies intended to thwart Delinquency: Deterrence General and Specific Situational Crime Prevention

General Deterrence General deterrence says that the choice to commit delinquent acts can be controlled by the threat of punishment A guiding principle of deterrence is that the more severe, certain and swift the punishment, the greater the deterrent effect If everyone believed illegal behavior will result in apprehension and punishment, then only the irrational would choose to commit crimes

General Deterrence Deterrence and Delinquency Children are punished less severely than adults, which limits the power of the law to deter juvenile crime Juvenile Justice authorities are reluctant to incorporate Deterrence based punishments because they interfere with the philosophy of parens patriae Juvenile courts have, however, shifted toward a public safety emphasis

General Deterrence Deterrence and Delinquency Now, children are treated more like adults Courts are more willing to waive youths to adult courts More juveniles are in adult prisons Result = the overall rate of delinquency has declined as the threat of punishment increased

General Deterrence Can delinquency be deterred? This questions whether juveniles are rational, and can deterrence strategies can be effective with this group Punishment may do little more than bring on defiance Minors are less capable of making mature judgments Many young offenders are unaware of the content of the juvenile legal codes Experienced offenders do not fear the consequences To the highest risk group of young offenders, teens living in economically depressed neighborhoods, the deterrent threat of formal sanctions may be irrelevant

General Deterrence Can delinquency be deterred? Teens seem more fearful of being punished by their parents and rejected by peers than of police and the judicial system Research shows that many Teens are under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they offend, a condition that impairs judgment and decision making ability Juveniles also commit crimes in groups because of peer pressure, a process called Co-Offending

Specific Deterrence Specific deterrence says if youths are punished severely, such as sending them to prison, the experience will convince them not to repeat their illegal acts Juveniles are punished by state authorities with the understanding that their ordeal will deter future misbehavior Though logical, there is little evidence that punishment alone deters future delinquency Kids who are placed in a juvenile facility are just as likely to become adult criminals as those treated with greater leniency

Specific Deterrence Prior arrests, convictions, and punishments is the best predictor of re-arrest among young offenders released from correctional institutions Incarceration may also diminish chances for successful employment, reducing access to legitimate opportunities Punishment strategies may: Breed Defiance Stigmatize kids and help lock them into a delinquent career Cause Psychological Problems Instills feelings of Victimization by the system Mixes Novice offenders with the more Experienced

Situational Crime Prevention Situational crime prevention strategies are designed to make it so difficult to commit delinquent acts that would-be offenders will be convinced the risks are greater than the rewards: Increase effort required to commit acts Increase the risk of delinquent acts Reduce the reward of delinquent acts Increase the shame of committing a delinquent act Removing Provocations that produce a delinquent act Removing the excuses for committing a delinquent act

Situational Crime Prevention Increasing Effort involves Target Hardening Placing unbreakable glass on storefronts Installing a locking device on cars that prevent intoxicated persons from starting their vehicles Locking gates, fencing yards, improved lighting, installing security systems, more police officers, security cameras

Situational Crime Prevention Reducing Rewards Making removable car radios Marking property so it will be move difficult to sell Gender neutral phone listings will reduce obscene phone calls GPS car tracking

Situational Crime Prevention Hot Spots and Crackdowns A Hot Spot is a particular location or address that is the site of repeated and frequent criminal activity A shopping mall, a public park, a housing project

Situational Crime Prevention Hot Spots and Crackdowns A Crackdown is a law enforcement operation designed to reduce or eliminate a particular criminal activity through the application of aggressive police tactics, using more police officers Effective in the short term, but the effect wears off after the initial shock and displacement may occur More effective is aggressive problem solving community policing tactics

Trait Theories: Biosocial and Psychological Views
The Origins of Trait Theory Trait theory argues that behavioral choices are a function of an individual’s mental and physical makeup When people commit crime, their behavior is shaped by these uncontrollable personal and physical traits Thereby, youths engage in delinquent or criminal behavior due to abnormal physical or psychological traits that govern behavioral choices Delinquent actions are impulsive or instinctual (uncontrollable) rather than rational choices

Trait Theories: Biosocial and Psychological
Origins of Trait Theory The school of thought is generally believed to have originated with the Italian physician Cesar Lombroso Criminal Atavism - idea that delinquents manifest physical anomalies that make them biologically and psychologically similar to our primitive ancestors, such as enormous jaws, strong teeth, flattened noses, two rows of teeth For most of the 20th century, most delinquency research focused on social factors such as poverty and family life

The Origins of Trait Theory Charles Goring challenged the validity of Lombroso’s research Instead, Goring claimed that delinquent behaviors bore a significant relationship to defective intelligence Goring advocated that criminality could best be controlled by regulating the reproduction of families exhibiting abnormal traits such as “feeblemindedness”

Contemporary Trait Theory Today Trait Theorists believe that individual deficits do not cause delinquency, however possessing individual traits may make a child more susceptible to the delinquency producing factors in the environment A learning disability may have an increased risk of school failure Children who fail at school are at risk to commit delinquent acts

Contemporary Trait Theory Today Trait Theory is divided into two separate branches: Biosocial Theory says the cause of delinquency can be found in the child’s physical or biological makeup Psychological Theory says the cause of delinquency can be found in the child’s psychological traits and characteristics

Biosocial Theories of Delinquency
Biosocial Theory Focuses on the association between biological makeup, environmental conditions and antisocial behaviors Research efforts are concentrated in three areas: Biochemical makeup Neurological function Genetic history

Biochemical Factors This area of research concerns the suspected relationship between antisocial behavior and biochemical makeup Exposure to damaging chemical contaminants from the point of conception by mothers ingesting harmful substances during pregnancy Exposure to lead in the environment and subsequent ingestion has been linked to antisocial behaviors Under supply or oversupply of certain chemicals and minerals can lead to depression, hyperactivity, cognitive problems, intelligence deficits, memory loss or abnormal sexual activity…conditions related to crime and delinquency

Biochemical Factors Diet Studies have indicated that diet may influence behavior through its impact on body chemistry A study in Great Britain found that improper diet seemed to be at a higher risk of developing ADHD, Depression, Schizophrenia and Dementia Other studies have linked diet and aggressive behavior patterns A poor diet inhibits school performance, and children who fail in school are at risk for delinquent behavior and criminality Student misbehavior levels have been reduced in controlled experiments in which school age subjects were provided with improved diets and nutritional supplements

Biochemical Factors Hormonal Levels Antisocial behavior peaks in the teenage years because hormonal activity is at its greatest level It is possible that increased levels of testosterone are responsible for excessive violence among teenage boys Adolescents who experience more intense moods, anxiety and restlessness also have the highest delinquency rates

Neurological Dysfunction Children who show behavioral disturbances may have neurological deficits Damage to the hemispheres of the brain or (MBD) Minimal Brain Dysfunction: May be present at birth, produced by low birth weight, brain injury during pregnancy, birthing complications, or inherited abnormality, or May occur later in life because of beatings or sexual abuse by a parent

Neurological Dysfunction Research shows children who suffer from measurable neurological deficits at birth are more likely to become criminals Research has linked this trait to habitual liars Clinical studies have found that a significant number of murderers had suffered head injuries as children that resulted in neurological impairment

Neurological Dysfunction The form of brain dysfunction most often linked to delinquency is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD The child shows a developmentally inappropriate lack of attention, distractibility, impulsivity and hyperactivity See “Exhibit 3.1: Symptoms of ADHD”

Neurological Dysfunction

Neurological Dysfunction Learning Disabilities Studies have shown that arrested and incarcerated children have a far higher learning disability than do children in the general population The Susceptibility Rationale argues that the link is caused by side effects of learning disabilities, such as impulsiveness and inability to take social cues The School Failure Rationale assumes that the frustration caused poor school performance will lead to a negative self-image and acting out behavior

Neurological Dysfunction Arousal Theory It has been expected that adolescents engage in crimes like shoplifting and vandalism because of the thrill of getting away with it These thrill seekers may have a form of abnormal brain functioning They require a high degree of environmental input to feel comfortable

Genetic Influences Parental Deviance It has been hypothesized that some youths inherit genes that predispose them to antisocial behavior To test this theory, West and Farrington conducted the longitudinal Cambridge Youth Study which found that a significant number of youths have criminal fathers 8% of chronic offenders had non-criminal fathers, 37% had criminal fathers

Genetic Influences Parental Deviance Other studies by Farrington found that fathers who were considered bullies have bullies for children The Rochester Youth Development Study found support that criminal fathers produce delinquent sons and delinquent sons grow up to have delinquent children themselves

Genetic Influences Twin Studies One method of studying the genetic basis of delinquency is to compare twins to non-twin siblings: If crime is an inherited trait, identical twins should behave the same based on the common genetic makeup To guard against the environmental influence, fraternal and identical twins are compared

Genetic Influences Twin Studies Monozygotic Twins 60% share criminal behavior patterns, if one was criminal the other one was too Similar treatment may be a factor of socialization and not heredity Dizygotic Twins 30% share criminal behavior patterns

Genetic Influences Twin Studies Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart Striking similarities in behavior and ability for twin pairs raised apart An MZ twin reared away from a co-twin has about as good a chance of being similar to the co-twin in terms of personality, interests and attitudes as one who has been reared with the co-twin Conclusion…similarities are due to genes, not the environment

Genetic Influences Adoption Studies Study to determine if adopted children are more like their biological or adopted parents 13% of the delinquents had adoptive fathers with criminal records 31% of the delinquents had biological fathers with criminal records These studies have generally supported the genetic link to behavior

Genetic Influences Summation of Twin and Adoption Studies In sum, twin and adoption studies provide some evidence that delinquency producing traits may be inherited

Psychological Theories of Delinquency
Psychodynamic Theory Originated with the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud who proposed that violations of the law are a product of an abnormal personality formed early in life Human personality is controlled by unconscious mental processes developed early in life The personality contains 3 major components: Id Ego Superego

Psychodynamic Theory The Id is the unrestrained, pleasure seeking component with which each child is born The Ego develops through the reality of living in the world and helps restrain the Id…which strives toward immediate gratification The Superego develops through interactions with parents and others and represents the conscience and the moral rules that are shared by most adults

Psychodynamic Theory All segments of the personality operate simultaneously If one aspect of the personality becomes dominant, the individual exhibits abnormal personality traits If the Id dominates there is an inability to distinguish between right and wrong The Id will demand immediate gratification, lack of sensitivity for the needs of others, act aggressively and impulsively

The Psychodynamic Tradition and Delinquency Erikson believed many adolescents experience a life crisis in which they feel emotional, impulsive and uncertain of their role and purpose Erikson called this “Identity Crisis” Erikson thought drug abuse may be the result of the confusion over their place in society Crime may also be the result of unresolved issues: Abuse or mistreatment results in fear or hatred Unconscious desires to be punished Commit crimes for attention or to punish parents

Behavioral Theory Behavioral Theory
Behaviorists argue that personality is learned throughout life during interaction with others (Watson and Skinner) Individuals learn by observing how people react to their behavior If a behavior is reinforced by some positive reaction or event that behavior will be continued and eventually learned If a behavior is not rewarded or is punished then that behavior will be extinguished

Behavioral Theory Behavioral Theory Social Learning Theory
If children observe aggression and see that it is approved or rewarded, they will likely react violently during similar incidents Children who grow up in homes where violence is a way of life may learn to believe that such behavior is acceptable The family serves as a training ground for violence

Cognitive Theory Cognitive Theory
Cognitive Theory studies the perception of reality and the mental processes required to understand the world we live in Kohlberg proposed that people pass through stages of moral development and offenders have moral orientations that differ from law-abiding citizens

Cognitive Theory Cognitive Theory Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning
The majority of delinquents were shown to have a lack of respect for the law and their actions were self serving Non offenders viewed the law as something that benefits all of society and were willing to honor the rights of others…they have higher levels of moral reasoning

Cognitive Theory Cognitive Theory Information Processing
Some cognitive theorists explain antisocial behavior in terms of perception and analysis of data When people make decisions they engage in a sequence of thought processes: First they encode information so it can be interpreted Then they search for a response and decide on the most appropriate action Finally they act on their decision

The belief is that the delinquency prone adolescents may have cognitive deficits and use information incorrectly when they make decisions They may misperceive behavioral cues because their decision making was shaped by traumatic life events

They rely on mental “scripts” learned in early childhood that tell them how to interpret events, what to expect, how they should react and what the outcome of the interaction should be Hostile children may have learned improper scripts by observing how others react to events

Violence becomes a stable behavior because the scripts emphasize aggressive responses are repeatedly rehearsed as the child matures They believe they are defending themselves, even though they are misreading the situation

Personality and Delinquency
Personality is a stable pattern of behavior, including thoughts and emotions, that distinguish one person from another The Glueck’s Personality Traits that characterize delinquents: Self assertiveness, extraversion, defiance, ambivalence, impulsiveness, narcissism, distrust of authority, suspicion, destructiveness, sadism, hostility, resentment Their personality increases the probability that they will be antisocial and that their actions will involve them with agents of social control, police and teachers

Eysenck identified two traits that he closely associated with antisocial behavior Extraversion Extroverts are impulsive individuals who lack the ability to examine their own motives and act self-destructively Neuroticism Neurotics are anxious and emotionally unstable Both lack insight and are highly impulsive

The Antisocial Personality Delinquency may result from a syndrome interchangeably referred to as antisocial, psychopathic or sociopathic personality They exhibit low levels of guilt and anxiety, and persistently violate the rights of others They may be charming and intelligent, masking a disturbed personality that makes them incapable of forming enduring relationships

The Antisocial Personality Factors that contribute to the development of the antisocial personality: Family dysfunction Emotionally disturbed parent Parental rejection Inconsistent or Abusive discipline Brain anomalies (Psychopaths)

Intelligence and Delinquency
2 Primary Theories Correlating IQ with Delinquency Nature Theory IQ tests were believed to measure genetic makeup and many psychologists accepted the predisposition of substandard individuals toward delinquency. This is referred to as the nature theory of intelligence. Nurture Theory More culturally sensitive explanation of behavior Argues that intelligence is not inherited and that low-IQ parents do not necessarily produce low-IQ children Intelligence must be viewed as partly biological, and primarily sociological (effect of parents, school, peers and environment) Low IQ results from an environment that also encourages delinquency

Intelligence and Delinquency However, Sutherland found evidence that disputed the association between intelligence and criminality Hirschi and Hindelang found that IQ is more important than race and social class for predicting delinquency Youths with limited intelligence are more likely to misinterpret events, take risks, and engage in harmful behavior

Critiquing Trait Theory Views
The research methodologies that are employed are invalid and/or poorly designed Personality and IQ are spread evenly across the social structure, thus, if individual traits were the true cause of delinquency, then delinquency should be spread evenly across society, but it is not!

Trait Theory and Delinquency Prevention
Prevention efforts should be directed at strengthening a youth’s home life and relationships Individual approaches have been used to prevent adjudicated youths from engaging in further criminal activities Critics argue that the more we try to help youths, the more likely they will be to see themselves as different or as troublemakers

Chapter Three Individual Views of Delinquency: Choice and Trait

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Chapter Three Individual Views of Delinquency: Choice and Trait

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